Printing mechanisms may use one or more print cartridges, sometimes referred to as “pens,” which may fire drops of liquid colorant, referred to generally herein as “ink,” onto a page. Each print cartridge may have a printhead formed with very small nozzles through which the ink drops are fired. To print an image, the print cartridge carrying the printhead may be propelled back and forth across the page, firing drops of ink in a desired pattern as it moves. The particular ink ejection mechanism within the printhead may take on a variety of different forms known to those skilled in the art, such as those using piezo-electric or thermal printhead technology.
To clean and protect the printhead, a “service station” mechanism may be mounted within the printer housing. For storage, or during non-printing periods, the service station may include a capping system which hermetically seals the printhead nozzles from contaminants and drying. To facilitate priming, some printers have priming caps that are connected to a pumping unit to draw a vacuum on the printhead. During operation, partial occlusions or clogs in the printhead may be periodically cleared by firing a number of drops of ink through each of the nozzles in a clearing or purging process known as “spitting.” The waste ink may be collected at a spitting reservoir portion of the service station, known as a “spittoon.” Many service stations may have a flexible wiper, or a more rigid spring-loaded wiper, so that after spitting, uncapping, or occasionally during printing, the wiper may wipe the printhead surface to remove ink residue, as well as any paper dust or other debris that has collected on the printhead. After wiping of the printhead by the wiper, the wiper may be scraped by a scraper to remove ink residue from the wiper. The service station may be moved relative to the printhead to facilitate the capping, wiping and spitting functions discussed above.
Movement of the service station may be actuated by a dedicated transmission assembly. Such a dedicated transmission assembly may require space within the housing of the printing assembly which may increase the overall size of the printing assembly. Use of a dedicated transmission assembly may also increase the overall cost and power requirements of the printing assembly. Therefore, for these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.